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Worm of the Week Archives

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Ouroboros

From the Greek for "tail eater," this symbol actually dates back at least as far as ancient Egypt, and can be found in sources as diverse as Mayan calendars, Norse mythology and medieval alchemical texts (such as the one pictured below, from the 11th century Codex Marcianus). It is also in the title of a classic fantasy novel by E.R. Eddison (The Worm Ouroboros). For more on the ouroboros, plus many on-line images, check out the links below.
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Ouroboros links:
http://www.best.com/~abacus/ouroboros.html
http://mama.inanna.com/yggdrasil/

Glaurung

In J.R.R. Tolkien's Silmarillion, the first of the dragons of Morgoth, also called "The Great Worm", "The Worm of Morgoth", and "The Father of Dragons". Slain by the hero Turin. To see some paintings of Glaurung, click on the links below.
Glaurung links:
http://ftp.sunet.se/pub/pictures/fantasy/Tolkien/1984-calendar/05.gif
http://ftp.sunet.se/pub/pictures/fantasy/Tolkien/glorund.jpg
http://ftp.sunet.se/pub/pictures/fantasy/misc/fabw09.jpg

Dragon Worm

Dracunculus Medinensis, aka the "Guinea worm" and the "Medina worm" is a parasite endemic to tropical areas. The larvae are ingested in contaminated water, and migrate through the gut into connective tissue, where the female grows to a length of more than a meter. When she is ready to lay her eggs, she burrows to the surface and releases a toxin that forms a blister, through which she then emerges. The traditional method for extracting the Dragon worm was to wind it around a stick as it emerged. This may be the basis for the biblical story of the "fiery serpents" that afflicted the Israelites, which God commanded Moses to "set...upon a pole" (Numbers, Ch 21). It may also be the origin of the caduceus, the snake coiled around a staff that is a symbol of the medical profession.
Dragon Worm links:
http://math.smith.edu/~sawlab/fgn/pnb/dracmed.html
http://www.cc.emory.edu/CARTER_CENTER/CCN-F94/gw.htm
http://www.who.ch/programmes/ctd/diseases/drac/dracmafr.htm

The Internet Worm

In 1986, a worm was released on the Internet by Robert T. Morris Jr. Morris claimed that his intentions were benign, but that a programming error caused the worm to get out of hand, crashing hundreds of systems on the Internet. Estimates of the cost in terms of lost computer time have ranged as high as $96 million, although many would consider that figure to be a gross exaggeration. Also known as "The Great Worm" (cf. Glaurung).
Internet Worm links:
http://www2.ncsu.edu/eos/info/computer_ethics/www/worm/study.html
http://http://nano.xerox.com/nanotech/worm.html
http://www.webcom.com/hurleyj/archive/wormpw.html

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